The Christian Home / As it is in the Sphere of Nature and the Church; Showing the Mission, Duties, Influences, Habits, and Responsibilities of Home, its Education, Government, and Discipline; with Hints on "Match Making," and the Relation of Parents to the Marriage Choice of their Children; together with a consideration of the Tests in the Selection of a Companion, Etc.

by Samuel Philips

Beneath its shading elm, with pious fear,

An aged mother draws her children near,

While from the Holy Word, with earnest air,

She teaches them the privilege of prayer.

Look! how their infant eyes with rapture speak;

Mark the flushed lily on the dimpled cheek;

Their hearts are filled with gratitude and love,

Their hopes are centered in a world above!"

The Christian home demands a family religion. This makes it a "household of God." Without this it is but a "den of thieves." It is "the one thing needful."

What is "family religion?" It is not an exotic, but is indigenous to the Christian home. It is not a "new measure," but an essential ingredient of the home-constitution,—coëxistent with home itself. The first family "began to call upon the name of the Lord;" the first parent acted as high-priest of God in his family.